Vacancy -- Head of Population Health Statistics (lateral job share opportunity)

Working for the Civil Service

The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

Vacancy Details

Permanent Secretary's Group
Health, Population & Welsh Language Statistics
Grade 7 - £53,440 - £63,900
Part time
16-30 hours per week (as part of a job share)
Permanent
Pan Wales
'Pan Wales' means that the location in which the vacancy can be based is flexible, subject to the needs of the business. Please note it may not always be possible to accommodate a preference for a specific office location, but requests will be taken into consideration.
TBC

Purpose of Post:

This part time role is part of a job share with an existing member of staff and would suit an individual looking to work between 16-30 hours per week.

Please note this opportunity is only open to existing civil servants, on a lateral only basis. Furthermore, applicants must be a member of either the Government Statistician Group (GSG) or Government Social Research Service (GSR).  

The purpose of the Head of Population Health Statistics is to provide leadership on a wide range of analytical requirements on population health, life expectancy and mortality for the Welsh Government; meeting the objectives of Minsters, policy colleagues and the wider public through the provision of professional expertise, evidence-based advice, analysis and guidance.

This involves detailed oversight of the population health topics within the National Survey for Wales, including coverage of adults’ health-related lifestyle and general health. The post holder(s) play a key role in considering how these topics will be captured in future iterations of the survey and are responsible for the production of associated analysis and outputs. The post holder(s) have ownership of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Wales National Indicators on gaps in life expectancy and adults’ healthy lifestyle behaviours as well as the new associated national milestone.

Alongside this, the role also leads on Welsh life expectancy and mortality statistics, including close liaison with other departments, organisations and nations to provide advice and briefing to Ministers and senior policy officials for both rapid response e.g. Covid mortality statistics and long term strategic plans e.g. general health outputs from Census 2021.

The successful applicant will be an integral member of the Health, Social Services and Population Statistics team, working directly to the Head of Health, Social Services and Population Statistics (Deputy Head of Profession for Statistics in Welsh Government), as well as being part of the wider division’s Heads of Branch group. 

Key tasks:

  • Analytical leadership of population health (including health-related lifestyles and general health), life expectancy and mortality within Welsh Government.
  • Significant liaison and relationship building with external data suppliers, including but not limited to Public Health Wales and the Office for National Statistics.
  • Defining user needs to appropriately capture population health in future versions of the National Survey for Wales
  • Ownership of two of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Wales National Indicators and associated national milestone
  • Briefing Ministers and senior policy officials on statistical issues related to population health, life expectancy and mortality; including but not limited to Covid mortality statistics and general health outputs from Census 2021.
  • Production of analysis, advice and support to policy officials to inform policy development and monitoring; drawing out key messages, identifying trends and writing insightful commentary.
  • Production, continual review and improvement of outputs, to meet the needs of internal and external users, and assessing future demand.
  • Promotion of best practice, ensuring compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics and related legislation.
  • Quality assurance including data checking, reporting on statistical quality and the peer review of statistical outputs.
  • Representing the division as required including across the wider UK statistical system and ensuring close working with counterparts across the UK.

Development opportunities:

  1. Be involved in work closely feeding into Ministerial and policy priorities, setting the future agenda
  2. Manage a programme of work with conflicting priorities and be involved in setting strategic direction for the division.
  3. Collaboration with a wide range of users and other organisations

Closing Date:

22/04/2022, 16:00

Disability Confident

Welsh Language Requirements

The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace. 

The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

Not necessary to undertake the duties of this post

Social Partnership

In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.

Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
•         PCS
•         Prospect
•         FDA

This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
•         pay
•         terms and conditions
•         policies and procedures
•         organisational change.

Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.

The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.

Competencies / Job Specific Criteria

Candidates are asked to provide evidence against the following 3 areas in their application;

  1. Acquiring data/information – Provide advice on what data/research can and cannot be used for.
  2. Present and disseminate analytical information – Apply professional understanding to complicated and sensitive problems and draw evidence-based conclusions across the work of the whole team.
  3. Analysis – Work across multiple areas to proactively engage with users to establish their analytical requirements and develop solutions responsively.

Assessment Process

Sift Stage

To be eligible to apply for this opportunity, you must already be a substantive Grade 7 within the Civil service and be a member of the Government Statistician Group (GSG) or the Government Social Research Service (GSR), with commitment to maintaining Continuous Professional Development and understanding new developments in the profession.

To apply for this opportunity, you will need to submit a CV (no more than 2 sides of A4) and a personal statement evidencing the three Behaviours and Experience criteria listed in 'Areas to Evidence' section of the advert. Your Personal Statement should not exceed 900 words (including headings).

Following the application sift, successful candidates will be invited to an MS Teams video interview. Please note if you are successful at sift, you will not be able to request your sift scores until the full assessment process has completed.

Final Outcome

Following assessment, the post will be offered to the highest scoring candidate according to the behaviours and experience criteria listed in 'Areas to Evidence' section of the advert.

 

Other Information

In defining the remit of this job share we welcome the opportunity to discuss the preferences of the successful candidate in terms of how the key tasks of this post are best split or shared between the two people in post.

We welcome applications from candidates who wish to work between 16 and 30 hours per week and we are flexible in terms of the successful candidates’ preferred working pattern. Occasional office attendance is required at one of our offices around Wales however there is the flexibility to work from home for much of the time, if this would be preferable to the successful candidate. Other work-based adjustments will also be considered

We will be holding an MS Teams webinar on 31/03/2022 at 11:00 and also on 06/04/2022 at 14:30 to provide further details on the role and application process where there will be the opportunity for prospective candidates to ask further questions and meet the line manager and job share partner. If you would like to attend one of these webinars, please use the following joining instructions:

31/03/2022 am 11:00

Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only):   Phone Conference ID: 804 969 282#

06/04/2022 am 14:30

Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only) Phone Conference ID: 504 943 031#

William.Perks001@gov.wales or Rebecca.Gillard@gov.wales

How to apply

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have an impairment which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to an impairment in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).

When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

This vacancy is closed to applications.